DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 30-32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim(s) does/do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter. The claim(s) is/are directed to a machine-readable storage medium, which can be a transitory as defined in [0150] and [0159] of the instant application. Such definition of machine-readable storage medium could make the medium a signal per se and thus, not a patent eligible subject matter. It is suggested to change “computer-readable storage medium” recited in claims 30-32, line 1 to -- non-transitory computer-readable storage medium --.
Acknowledgment
The Preliminary Amendment filed on 02/01/2024 has been received and placed of record. Accordingly, claims 14-19, 21, 23 and 25-29 have been cancelled and claims 1-13, 20, 22, 24 and 30-32 are pending in the instant application.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-6, 20, 22, 30 and 32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by 3GPP (document entitled: “3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Services and System Aspects; System architecture for the 5G System (5GS); Stage 2 (Release 17)").
Regarding independent claim 1, 3GPP teaches a network element selection method (page 439, section 6.3.17: “NSSAAF discovery and selection"), performed by a first network element (page 439, section 6.3.17: “The NF consumer (e.g. AME, AUSF) performs NSSAAF selection to select an NSSAAF Instance”), comprising: selecting a network slice-specific authentication and authorization function (NSSAAF) network element according to first information (page 439, section 6.3.17: “The NF consumer (e.g. AMF, AUSF) performs NSSAAF selection to select an NSSAAF Instance … The NSSAAF selection function in NSSAAF NF consumers or in SCP should consider the following factor when it is available: 1. Home Network Identifier (e.g. MNC and MCC, realm) of SUPI (by an NF consumer in the Serving network)."); wherein the first information comprises at least one of the following: single network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI) for a network slice; a home network identifier in a subscription permanent identifier (SUPI) (page 439, paragraph 6.3.17: "consumer (e.g. AMF, AUSF) performs NSSAAF selection to select an NSSAAF Instance … The NSSAAF selection function in NSSAAF NF consumers or in SCP should consider the following factor when it is available: 1. Home Network Identifier (e.g. MNC and MCC, realm) of SUPI (by an NF consumer in the Serving network)."); a data network name (DNN); a generic public subscription identifier (GPSI); a subscription permanent identifier (SUPI) (page 439, paragraph 6.3.17: "consumer (e.g. AMF, AUSF) performs NSSAAF selection to select an NSSAAF Instance … The NSSAAF selection function in NSSAAF NF consumers or in SCP should consider the following factor when it is available: 1. Home Network Identifier (e.g. MNC and MCC, realm) of SUPI (by an NF consumer in the Serving network)."); a subscription concealed identifier (SUCI) (page 328, section 5.30.2.9.2: "… based on UE subscription data and UE's SUPI, which is de-concealed by UDM from the SUCI … select the NSSAAF, The NSSAAF selects AAA Server based on the domain name corresponds to the realm part of the SUPI..."); an external group ID; an internal group ID; and a routing identifier.
Regarding independent claim 6, 3GPP teaches an information transmission method, performed by a second network element (page 439, section 6.3.17: "The NF consumer shall utilize the NRF to discover the NSSAAF instance(s) unless NSSAAF information is available by other means, e.g. locally configured on the NF consumer. The NSSAAF selection function in the NF consumer selects an NSSAAF instance based on the available NSSAAF instances (obtained from the NRF or locally configured in the NF consumer) … 1. Home Network Identifier (e.g. MNC and MCC, realm) of SUPI (by an NF consumer in the Serving network)... "), comprising: receiving a first request message from a first network element (page 439, section 6.3.17: "The NF consumer shall utilize the NRF to discover the NSSAAF instance(s) (it is interpreted that “discover” means implicitly sending a discover message which is the same as request message); wherein the first request message comprises first information, and the first information comprises at least one of the following: S-NSSAI for a network slice; a home network identifier in a subscription permanent identifier (SUPI) (page 439, section 6.3.17: "The NF consumer shall utilize the NRF to discover the NSSAAF instance(s) unless NSSAAF information is available by other means, e.g. locally configured on the NF consumer. The NSSAAF selection function in the NF consumers selects an NSSAAF instance based on the available NSSAAF instances (obtained from the NRF or locally configured in the NF consumer) … should consider the following factor when it is available: 1. Home Network Identifier (e.g. MNC and MCC, realm) of SUPI (by an NF consumer in the Serving network). "); a data network name (DNN); a generic public subscription identifier (GPSI); a subscription permanent identifier (SUPI) (page 439, paragraph 6.3.17: "consumer (e.g. AMF, AUSF) performs NSSAAF selection to select an NSSAAF Instance … The NSSAAF selection function in NSSAAF NF consumers or in SCP should consider the following factor when it is available: 1. Home Network Identifier (e.g. MNC and MCC, realm) of SUPI (by an NF consumer in the Serving network)."); a subscription concealed identifier (SUCI) (page 328, section 5.30.2.9.2: "… based on UE subscription data and UE's SUPI, which is de-concealed by UDM from the SUCI … select the NSSAAF, The NSSAAF selects AAA Server based on the domain name corresponds to the realm part of the SUPI..."); an external group ID; an internal group ID; and a routing identifier; sending a first response message, according to the first request message, to the first network element; wherein the first response message comprises fully qualified domain names (FQDN) and/or address information of one or a group of NSSAAF (page 439, section 6.3.17: "The NF consumer shall utilize the NRF to discover the NSSAAF instance(s) unless NSSAAF information is available by other means, e.g. locally configured on the NF consumer. The NSSAAF selection function in the NF consumer selects an NSSAAF instance based on the available NSSAAF instances (obtained from the NRF or locally configured in the NF consumer) … should consider the following factor when it is available: 1. Home Network Identifier (e.g. MNC and MCC, realm) of SUPI (by an NF consumer in the Serving network)...” it is interpreted that obtaining from NRF implies that said address of said NSSAAF instances are returned from NRF to NF in response to discover request message).
Regarding dependent claim 2, the claim recites similar subject matter as in claim 6. Therefore, similar rationale is applied as for claim 6.
Regarding dependent claim 3, 3GPP further teaches wherein before the selecting the NSSAAF network element according to the first information, the method further comprises: obtaining subscription information of user equipment from a third network element; wherein the subscription information carries target address information, and the target address information is of one or a group of authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) servers corresponding to the network slice. See section 6.3.17.
Regarding dependent claim 4, 3GPP further teaches wherein after the selecting the NSSAAF network element, the method further comprises: sending an authorization request message to the selected NSSAAF network element, wherein the authorization request message comprises the target address information. See section 6.3.17.
Regarding dependent claim 5, 3GPP further teaches wherein the authorization request message further comprises at least one of the following: a GPSI;S-NSSAI for the network slice; extensible authentication protocol (EAP) information. See section 6.3.17.
Regarding dependent claim 20, the claim recites similar subject matter as in claim 1. Therefore, similar rationale is applied as for claim 1.
Regarding dependent claim 22, the claim recites similar subject matter as in claim 6. Therefore, similar rationale is applied as for claim 6.
Regarding dependent claims 30 and 32, 3GPP further teaches a computer program to be executed by a processor. See section 4.2.5.
Claims 7-13, 24 and 31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ericsson (document entitled: “Handling of AAA-S address in NSSAA”).
Regarding independent claim 7, Ericsson teaches an information transmission method, performed by a Network Specific Slice Authentication and Authorization Function NSSAAF network element (page 4, lines 1-2: "the Network Slice Specific Authentication and Authorization procedure corresponds to a re-authentication and re- authorization" and page 4, bullet point 4 : “The AMF sends … to the NSSAAF in a Nnssaaf_NSSAA Authenticate Request (EAP Identity Response, GPSI, S- NSSAI)), comprising: receive an authorization request message sent by the first network element (page 4, lines 1-2: "the Network Slice Specific Authentication and Authorization procedure corresponds to a re-authentication and re- authorization” and page 4, bullet point 4 : “The AMF sends … to the NSSAAF in a Nnssaaf_NSSAA Authenticate Request (EAP Identity Response, GPSI. S-NSSAI)), wherein the authorization request message comprises target address information, (page 4, bullet point 5: "If the AAA-P is present (e.g. because the AAA-S belongs to a third party and the operator deploys a proxy towards third parties), the NSSAAF forwards the EAP ID Response message to the AAA-P, otherwise the NSSAAF forwards the message directly to the AAA-S. The
NSSAAF is responsible to send the NSSAA requests to the appropriate AAA-S based on local configuration of AAA-S address per S-NSSAI. The NSSAAF uses towards the AAA-P or the AAA-S an AAA protocol message of the same protocol supported by the AAA-S."), and the target address information is of one or a group of AAA servers (page 4, bullet point 5: “If the AAA-P is present (e.g. because the AAA-S belongs to a third party and the operator deploys a proxy towards third parties), the NSSAAF forwards the EAP ID Response message to the AAA-P, otherwise the NSSAAF forwards the message directly to the AAA-S. The NSSAAF is responsible to send the NSSAA requests to the appropriate AAA-S based on local configuration of AAA-S address per S-NSSAI. The NSSAAF uses towards the AAA-P or the AAA-S an AAA protocol
message of the same protocol supported by the AAA-S.") corresponding to the network slice requested by the user equipment (page 4, bullet point 3: “The UE provides the EAP Identity Response for the S-NSSAI alongside the S-NSSAI in an NAS MM Transport message towards the AMF and bullet point 5: "The NSSAAF is responsible to send the NSSAA requests to the appropriate AAA-S based on local configuration of AAA-S address per S-NSSAI).
Regarding dependent claim 8, Ericsson further teaches wherein the authorization request message further comprises at least one of the following: a GPSI;S-NSSAI for the network slice; extensible authentication protocol (EAP) information. See page 4, bullet 4.
Regarding dependent claim 9, Ericsson further teaches selecting a corresponding AAA server for the user equipment according to the target address information. See page 4, bullet 5.
Regarding dependent claim 10, Ericsson further teaches wherein when the AAA servers comprise a fourth network element and a fifth network element, the method further comprises: sending an AAA protocol message to the fifth network element, wherein the AAA protocol message is forwarded to the fourth network element by the fifth network element; wherein the AAA protocol message carries the target address information. See page 4, bullet 5.
Regarding dependent claim 11, Ericsson further teaches wherein when the AAA servers comprise a fourth network element, the method further comprises: sending an AAA protocol message to the fourth network element, wherein the AAA protocol message comprises the target address information. See page 4, bullets 5 and 6.
Regarding dependent claim 12, Ericsson further teaches wherein the AAA protocol message further comprises at least one of the following: a GPSI;S-NSSAI for the network slice; extensible authentication protocol (EAP) information. See page 4, bullet 4.
Regarding dependent claim 13, Ericsson further teaches wherein the target address information is obtained by the first network element from subscription information of the user equipment sent by a third network element. See page 4, bullet 4.
Regarding dependent claim 24, the claim recites similar subject matter as in claim 7. Therefore, similar rationale is applied as for claim 7.
Regarding dependent claim 31, Ericsson further teaches a computer program to be executed by a processor. See section 4.2.5.
Conclusion
Examiner's note: Examiner has cited particular columns and line numbers in the references as applied to the claims above for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings of the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested from the applicant, in preparing responses, to fully consider the references in entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the Examiner.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. References Wu (US 20230319556), Xu (US 2023/0353990), Chen et al (US 2024/0107417) and Chen et al (US 2025/0132901) are cited because they are pertinent to the method and apparatus for selecting network element.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DON NGUYEN VO whose telephone number is (571) . The examiner can normally be reached on Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 6:30PM.
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/DON N VO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2634